It was late evening and very windy, but I managed to get a few pictures. Close inspection showed that the anthers were dusty purple.

Close up of anthers of infected Silene alba flower

The plants were infected with an anther smut fungus called Microbotryum violaceum (purple smut fungus). (Actually I can't be this specific with the name. Species delimitation in these smut fungi is apparently extremely difficult. See Vánky, 2004).

Essentially the smut has hijacked both the plant and its ertswhile pollinators. Any unsuspecting insect visiting the flower will carry fungal teliospores, rather than pollen, to a new host plant. The infected plant is sterile but not killed.

It is not often one can say that local council verge management is beneficial to wildlife. Generally, down our lane, verge management is somewhat haphazard.

Our local council has what can only be described as a 'bare earth' policy when they cut the verges near the allotments and cemetery. The environmental cost (man hours and fuel) of mowing grass to look like a heavily worn, threadbare carpet is debatable. The benchmark seems to be 'if there is at least 50% bare earth, the bank is cut short enough'.

But.......for the keen-eyed botanist, this űber-mowing, has a diminutive advantage, in the form of an easily overlooked clover: subterranean clover, Trifolium subterraneum.

Sub clover (as it is known) is native to England. It can survive in inhospitable environments (dry, over-mown, road verges, for example). It has the curious ability of being able to bury its seed underground (hence subterranean or 'burrowing' clover). The correct word for this is 'geocarpic', which essentially means the plant buries the maturing seed by pushing it underground. In the case of sub clover a burr forms round the seed and this is driven underground. Clever plant.

Subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum) burr

Because it is grown as a forage crop, this little plant has an impressive literature about it (albeit mostly behind paywalls. Grrrr). The Australian Department of Agriculture report that it contains phyto-oestrogens (for example, formononetin). These chemicals, can, if sheep are grazed on green pasture rich in these legumes, negatively affect breeding (called clover infertility).

People with good taste...

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The vast majority of images on this site are taken by me. Where this is not the case I hope I have attributed the image correctly. My photos are not great but they are accessible for anyone to use, under the licence agreement above, as I believe the internet is somewhere we should share our thoughts, our ideas and our (pretty average in my case) pictures.The written content is also my own and I have referenced it as fully as I felt I should in the context of a blog.